Sewing-machine



J.IPENNINGTON & J. SGHOTT.

(No Model.)-

SEWING MACHINE.

Patented Apr. 14, 1896.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN PENNINGTON AND JOHN SCHOTT, OF CAMDEN, NEW YORK.

SEWING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 558,459, dated April 14, 1896.

Application filed May 9, 1895. Serial No. 548,715. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

JOHN SCHOTT, citizens of the United States, residing at Camden, in the county of Oneida, State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sewing Machines, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

Our invention relates to sewing-machines and particularly to that class of machines adapted for uniting edgings to fabrics, these edgings being of various widths and designs and adapted to form an ornamental finish for garments. This edging is usually formed on special machines for the purpose and is then sold to manufacturers for application to their goods, the uniting of the edging with the body of the fabric being performed on sewing-machines preferably making a cross-stitch passing from the edging to the fabric. One type of machine upon which this sewing is accomplished has been shown by way of illustration, and in this machine there are two verticallyreciprocating needles carrying upper threads, one of which needles carries a loop down through the edging and the other through the fabric, suitable means being provided for se-' curing said loops on the under surface of the pieces being united, there being also provided swinging fingers carrying separate upper threads adapted to lay cross-threads from one line of stitches to the other, these with the lower threads uniting the two pieces of fabric by an ornamental cross-stitch. It is, of course,

desirable to provide means for accurately guiding the edging, so that it will be presented to the stitch-forming mechanism in proper relation to the edge of the fabric to which it is to be secured, and as in the manufacture of knit underwear varying styles and qualities of garments require varying widths of edging it has been proposed heretofore to provide the presser-foot used on such sewing-machines with a guide portion for the edging, said guide portion being adjustable in width to accommodate said varying widths of edging. The construction of this heretofore-proposed form of foot is somewhat similar to that of a tape- I guide-that is, the toe of the foot extends up- Be it known that we, JOHN PENNINGTON and.

wardly and has a guiding-recess with a springbottom clamping-plate, through which recess the edging passes; but the width of the said recess is made adjustable. In the use of the above-described foot for guiding edging operators meet with considerable difficulty in adjusting the foot back and forth for the different widths of edging. Our object, therefore, is to avoid the defects existing in the above-mentioned device and provide an attachment for guiding the edging which shall be simple, cheap, and durable, and capable of use with different widths of edging without necessity of adjustment.

The invention therefore consists inthe matters hereinafter described and referred to in the appended claims.

Our invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a portion of a sewingmachine of the well-known Union Special type to which our invention is applied. Fig. 2 is an end view in perspective of the same; and Fig. 3 is a plan view of the cloth-plate and our improved presser-foot, the fabric and edging being shown as passing through the machine. Fig.4 is a plan view similar to Fig. 3, but showing also the guide for .the edge of the fabric.

Inthe accompanying drawings, A represents the frame of the machine, which is of ordinary construction. B is the main shaft, 0 the needle-arm lever, D the needle-bar actuated thereby, and a the looper cooperating with the needles to form the stitches. These parts are all of the construction shown in the well-known Union Special machines, are actuated in the usual manner, and need not be herein specifically referred to. g

In the present machine we use two needles I), which are secured to the needle-bar in the customary manner, sewing two parallel rows of stitches, the loops in the needle-threads which pass down through the fabric being secured on the under side thereof by the looperthread.

F G represent oscillating thread-carrying levers reciprocating back and forth across the line ofthe seam in front of the needles, soas Too to lay the threads which they carry between the outer rows of stitches, the cross-threads being bound by said outer rows.

The parts just described are all Well known and when the machine is operated make a stitch composed of two outer rows of loops secured on the under surface of the fabric by an under thread carried back and forth by the looper, while the thread-carriers weave the threads between the outer rows of stitches on the upper surface of the fabric, the threads carried by said thread-carriers F G being securely fastened to the fabric by said outer rows of stitches.

The machine is provided with a throat-plate K, having openings for the passage of the usual feed-dogs, and is also provided with slots for the passage of the needles and a tongue between the needle-openings, the stitches being formed over this tongue 0 and slipping olf the same as the fabric feeds forward.

lVe have herein shown this machine as used for the purpose of uniting an ornamental edging L to the body of the fabric M, one row of stitches being passed down within the body of the fabric and the other within the body of the edging and the cross-threads both on the upper and under sides being woven back and forth, thereby uniting the fabric and the edging by an ornamental line of cross-stitches. The machine as above described is well adapted for this work, but we use it here simply as one of the types of the machines for use in sewing edging onto fabrics, and, while we have shown our improved presser-foot and edging-guide now about to be described as applied to this machine, we do not wish to be limited thereto in all respects. This presserfoot is shown at N and is secured to the presser-bar in the ordinary manner. the wide slot f for the passage of the two needles and has extending from its front portion at a point in a plane about midway of the needle-slot a projection or toe P, against the side of which the edge of the ornamental edging is adapted to bear, thus acting as an aid in guiding the said edging to the needles. The prcsser-foot has a lateral projecting flat portion 9, to which is secured one end of an angle-piece 0, said angle-piece having a forwardly-projecting arm 13 practically parallel with the projection P 011 the front of the presser-foot proper and having in line with a similar opening 011 said arm 19 an opening q to receive the end of a roller Q. As herein shown, this roller Q is provided with two series of projecting spurs 0', arranged parallel with each other and adjacent the guide P, these spurs, as the edging is fed forward, being adapted to enter the small open spaces in the edging, as shown, thus preventing its slipping and acting to guide it in a perfectly straight line, the keel or projection P acting to guide the edging, and being arranged in a plane about midway of the two needles, while 7 the festoon part of the edging.

It has,

the spurs are to one side the center of the needle-hole. The position of the first projection P mayof course be elsewhere than central of the two needles, according as one of the rows of stitches is to be moved nearer to or farther from the edge.

R represents an adjustable gage for the edge of the fabric, it being in practice preferably arranged to the right of the toe P and in line with the needle-hole, so that the edging and fabric will overlap slightly. The edging is fed down from above in the usual way, being fed from above directly to the presser-foot, thereby doing away with any handling.

It will be apparent that the roller carrying the circular series of spurs is in eifect a series of spur-wheels having their journals fixed together, so as to operate as one, and it will be obvious that a greater or less number of such circular series of spurs may be used; or instead of a roller thus constructed a series of independent spurwheels may be mounted on the presser-foot on the same or different axes, and that by having a series of these wheels edging of any Width may be accurately fed to the needles, the spur-wheels meshing with the interstices of the edging passing under the fiat portion 9 of the presserfoot, and in the form herein shown the smooth part of the roller Q serving to guide It will thus be seen that in the use of this device no adj ustment of the parts is necessary for varying widths of edging, and, furthermore, it is easy to guide the work, as the foot is small and open to view, or, if the thread should break, it is easy to draw the fabric and edging backward in a straight line, and as the spur-wheel passes between the small spaces in the edging the latter cannot get away. It will also be seen that in a machine making a cross-stitch for uniting two pieces of fabric a guiding spur-wheel of this character arranged to one side the center of the needle-hole is of peculiar advantage, as it may be also useful where two overlapping pieces of fabric are fed to stitch-forming mechanism, the spurs, if long and sharp enough, engaging both pieces.

lVhile as herein shown the toe P acts to guide the edging only it will be understood that it might be used as a guide for the abutting edges of two pieces of fabric to be united where they are sufliciently heavy to prevent pulling out. So, also, it will be understood that while the peculiar presserrfoot is herein shown as applied to a sewing-machinemaking a cross-stitch, it is not necessarily limited to such, but may be used on machines making a straight-away stitch. Furthermore, by the term cross-stitch we do not necessarily mean such a cross-stitch as herein illustrated, as there are numerous types of stitches coming under this general head, and, finally, we do not wish to be limited specifically to the use of the machine in connection with the uniting of an edging to fabrics, as the presser-foot shown may be of use in sewing other kinds of fabric.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a sewing-machine the combination of a sewing mechanism comprising two spaced needles, with a presser-foot having a guidingtoe located thereon in a plane passing between the said needles and also having a spur-wheel journaled to rotate in a plane parallel with the plane of the toe; substantially as described.

2. In a sewing-machine the combination of a sewing mechanism comprising two spaced needles, with a presser-foot having a guidingtoe located thereon in a plane passing between the said needles and also having a spur-wheel j ournaled to rotate in a plane parallel with the plane of the toe, and an independent edgeguide cooperating with the toe; substantially as described.

3. In a sewing-machine the combination of a sewing mechanism having a plurality of spaced needles with a presser-foot having a guiding-toe located therein in a plane parallel with the longitudinal axis of the presserfoot, and also having a spur-wheel journaled to rotate in a plane parallel with the plane of the toe; substantially as described.

4. A sewing-machine comprising stitchforming mechanism, a guide in advance thereof for one piece of fabric, an independent guide for the other fabric in advance of and to one side the first guide, and a wheel arranged to bear on the overlapped portions of fabric and provided with spurs of length sufficient to engage the fabric and guide it in a straight line whether drawn forward or backward; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two winesses.

JOHN PENNINGTON. JOHN SOHOTT.

Witnesses:

E. O. WOODRUFF, JOHN A. BOEHEN. 

